MIT's FingerReader Could Make Life Easier For The Blind

A lot of technology is redundant, at best. Shiny gadgets that won't really make a difference. However, some of it has the potential to be a real game changer. MIT's FingerReader, if it will live up to its promises is one of them. Designed to help blind and visually impaired people to read text, it consists in a finger worn device, similar to a big, plastic, ring.

Wearers scan a text line with their finger and receive an audio feedback of the words and a haptic feedback of the layout: this means that they are able to understand when they arrive to the end of a line, or the start of a new paragraph. They can also adjust speed, moving the finger slower or faster, and even going back to a previous passage, if they realize they have missed something. The text is filmed by a small camera and it's then converted to sound, a vocal track played through a tiny microphone.

The process, according to a video released by the MIT's Fluid Interfaces team, is quite smooth. The voice is synthetic and not very pleasant to hear, but this is a problem that could be easily fixed in the future.

Mind, this is just a prototype, for now. Researchers admit that a lot more work is needed before turning this brilliant idea into a viable commercial product. However, among the plethora of proofs of concept produced by MIT's labs, this is indeed one of the most fascinating, as it could open a whole lot of possibilities for the blind: it could, for instance, increase their chances to learn, by making it possible to read school books without the need for a specific Braille version. Or, for something more ordinary, simply allow them to go to a restaurant, scan the menu, and order by themselves.

And the possible applications of the product are not limited to helping visually impaired people. Another scenario imagined by the scientists is using the FingerReader as a tool for language translation. Using it together with a smartphone app, it could smooth the process of simultaneous translation, making it as simple as pointing the finger to a text and say "translate". The ring could also prove useful for young children learning to read.

The device is not meant to be a substitute for Braille, but it sure could fill a gap: a lot of texts, from books to magazine, to newspapers are simply not available in that format. And not all visually impaired people know how to read in Braille. That's where the FingerReader could come handy.

At the moment, the researchers claim to have been overwhelmed by the positive reactions to the prototype and not having thought yet of how to commercialize it, or how to reach out for an investor willing to help them finish the product's development, and set up a company.

I'm a freelance journalist covering technology for several outlets, both in English (Zdnet, techPresident) and Italian (La Stampa, l'Espresso, Corriere della Sera and others). I was a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism fellow in 2013. You can find my research on j...